


Status Quo

by emblem_oracle



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Soen no Kiseki/Akatsuki no Megami | Fire Emblem Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn
Genre: Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Post-Radiant Dawn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-29
Updated: 2016-12-29
Packaged: 2018-09-13 04:16:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9106270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emblem_oracle/pseuds/emblem_oracle
Summary: “’Was the Hero of the Blue Flames in a relationship’?” He was unamused, perhaps somewhat slighted as he repeated the question back. Then again, the mage always seemed to be offended by something, even within the small time they had talked.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to try and write in a different style to what I'm used to. This is the product of that endeavour. I don't know how interesting this is (I wrote it in less than an hour) but I hope someone enjoys it anyway.

The mage tossed the apple into the air, watching as it twirled into a green blur before catching it with one hand. He paused briefly before he took a bite; more of a nibble, really. The apple was bruised from his throws but not inedible.

"'Was the Hero of the Blue Flames in a relationship'?" He was unamused, perhaps somewhat slighted as he repeated the question back. Then again, the mage always seemed to be offended by something, even within the small time they had talked.

He threw the apple into the air again.

"The books say he married a Princess!"

The mage snorted, incredulous. He threw the apple higher.

"Others say he had a relationship with a laguz."

The man's mouth set into a thin line. He'd mentioned earlier his hatred for the beast creatures which had lessened over the years. The stiffness in his jaw, though, revealed a little too much.

"Then… there are some papers – very few, mind – who say Ike did not favour women at all. That he took a man to his bed."

The apple stilled, calm in his palm. The mage did not bite it again, merely contemplated its bruised skin.

"You said you knew him. You are one of few who yet live that can say that."

"I fail to see how this topic matters," the mage muttered, digging his front teeth into the fruit and biting down quietly. "Ike was a well-adored military commander; he commanded respect from both laguz and beorc alike. He was paramount in both the Mad King's War and the war between the Laguz alliance and old Begnion. Yet, you ask not about those achievements but something so fallible as his _relationship status_."

The mage huffed, throwing the remains of the apple into one of the barrels with a faint clunk. He muttered something under his breath which sounded a lot like, 'This is the reason I don't deal with beorc.'

Then he sighed, closed his eyes, and the lines from his face eased. His mouth moved as he voiced words unheard but had some form of effect in calming him.

"Fine," the mage said, opening his crimson eyes. The lines around those orbs expressed his age, in spite of his otherwise apparent youth.

"The Hero of the Blue Flames… did have a relationship with a single individual. However, there were many rumours before that. In the Mad King's war, it is true the-then Princess Elincia developed a soft-spot for him. However, after he failed to reciprocate and famously abandoned the court, the air soured somewhat between them."

"There was also a shop girl by the name of Aimee who was… attached… to the General. However, her flirtatious attempts were rather off-putting, in a word. He was more scared of her than attracted."

"What about the laguz rumours?"

The mage tensed again, scarlet eyes narrowed in distaste, but they soon eased back into apathy.

"Those hold more weight than the Queen and shopkeeper. He was famous for views on interracial relationships . Perhaps if certain events had happened differently, he would have taken a cat girl with him to the ends of the earth. Maybe he would have even taken the cat boy, too."

"But… if not them, who _did_ he take as a partner?"

Distance appeared within the mage's eyes and suddenly, he seemed much darker than the shadows and the robes he donned. Like a darkness had fallen across his body but deeper than skin, like it had seeped into his mixed blood.

"Commander Ike… never really took anyone as a partner. At least, not in the conventional sense. He was not a romantic man and treated his said 'partner' not to casual kisses and physical contact. In fact, they only kissed once. At the end."

A pause.

"That person was his strategist."

Something about the word strategist made the mage pause again, like he felt he was revealing too much. The darkness seemed to spread for a small second – casting his entire aura into shadow - before it snapped away and the mage stood. His robes, navy and clean, billowed slightly in the draft.

Crimson eyes found the nearby lantern and he picked it up from the barrel, the metal creaking upon rusted screws. Stray hairs spilled from his hood; dark green, almost black.

It took a few moments to line the pieces up.

"Wait… didn't you say you were the Hero's strategist?"

The mage's mouth quirked at the corners, like a smirk. He cast a small flame to his fingertips and brought them to the lantern.

Another moment passed, a second for things to click. 

"So, you are Soren, then."

The mage nodded before he glanced out of the frosted window; to the winter weather and starry skies. The distance remained in his eyes. "I am perhaps the only one who can claim the name of his strategist. Yet, whether I was his partner is something else; a story too long to tell in passing." The wind signalled the door, the apple the only evidence he had even been there. Like he was a ghost, or a phantom. 

"I will keep that story to myself."


End file.
